


Protective Detail

by Anonwrite



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fun, Future Fic, Protective Toby, Quintis - Freeform, family life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 18:10:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10224077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonwrite/pseuds/Anonwrite
Summary: When it comes to protecting the ones he loves, Toby will stop at nothing...even if it gets him trouble.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to the anon who prompted me this! I had SO much fun with this and I really hope you all like it. Likes and comments are much appreciated!! :-)

Toby watched as the figure that had just been at his door hurried down the front steps and jumped on the motorcycle parked near the sidewalk, quickly riding away with a loud rev of the engine. Then, after taking a deep calming breath, he turned around and met the fuming familiar eyes that bored into his own. 

"I can't believe you did that," she whispered slowly. She was calm, too calm - the only sign of anger coming from her silently fisting her hands until her knuckles were white and her eyes lighting up with fire. 

Toby opened his mouth to explain, but quickly shut it once more when her eyes narrowed and she glared at him, a glare Toby knew all too well, a glare that could cut through anyone; one that could make the toughest man run scared. Then without another word, she turned on her heel and stomped across the living room and up the stairs, her raven hair flying up behind her. 

Toby started after her, "Sweetheart, stop. I need-"

"Leave me alone," she all but growled when she reached the top, stopping Toby in his tracks on the third step. A few seconds later a door slammed shut. 

"You can't do this," Toby yelled up the stairs, "Come back do-", he yelped when a tool came flying down the steps towards him. When it landed behind him he saw it was a small wrench. Sighing he picked it up. He had long ago, after learning his lesson the hard way, banned any tool larger than the size of his palm from being in the house; they stayed at the garage or in Happy's workspace in the backyard and that was it. 

"But- you- ge- uh-," he stuttered, shouting up the stairs once more, before finally settling on, "Get back down here right now."

A muffled laugh came from behind him. He turned and frowned at his wife, who was sitting on the couch next to their 7 year old Toby look alike son working on a design for his derby car race at the end of the month. She had witnessed the whole situation and found great amusement in it. 

"This is not funny, Happy," Toby said firmly, crossing his arms across his chest. 

Happy tried to bite back her laugh, but it was a losing battle, "Oh, Doc, yes it is. Our daughter, our daddy's girl, who has never actually been mad at you a day in her life, is furious with you right now and you don't know what to do about it. You know what to do when that anger is turned towards me, but now that it's on you, you're floundering, and it's hilarious."

"Some wife you are, aren't you supposed to be on my side?"

"Oh, I am. Always will be, baby. It's just really funny to finally see the other side."

Toby rolled his eyes, "Then, since you have experience with this, what-" 

"Dad," a loud whine from the stairs behind him, interrupting him.

His shoulders sagged and he let out a long sigh, "Yes, Ellie?"

Their 13 year old daughter, a spitting image of Happy, came stomping down the steps, laptop in hand, "Kenzie is blasting her music so loud that the windows are shaking. You can't even think straight." She frowned, "She knows I was watching a segment on these implants you can put into the brain to-"

"BORING," Ben pretended to snore from the couch, interrupting his sister.

"Benny," Happy warned, giving him the side eye and pointing to the designs in front of him.

He shrugged his shoulders and picked up his pencil again, studying the designs, seemingly forgetting all about his sister. But Ellie couldn't let it go. 

"Well, I don't need mom or dad to help me with my work."

He furrowed his brow, "I don't need her help, she offered."

"Hey, you two, cut it out," Happy raised her voice slightly. 

Toby didn't bother to cut in, he was still trying to figure out what to do about his eldest daughter. 

But Ben ignored his mother, "And at least I have friends to do things with so I'm not always watching stupid medical documentaries."

Ellie's face grew red, "At least I wasn't a mistake." 

"Eleanor Curtis," Toby said firmly, finally stepping in, "I can't believe you. That is not true and you know it. What do you say to your brother?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Sorry, dweeb."

He stuck out his tongue at her, then turned back to his papers. 

"So, Dad," Ellie said, turning towards Toby, "as I was saying, I was in the middle of this amazing research documentary, but I can't watch it with Mackenzie's music. So can I use your office? It's the only place quiet enough. Please, Daddy?" She looked up at Toby with those puppy dog eyes he had taught all the kids when they younger, mainly because he knew Happy could never say no to it - he was starting to regret that decision now. 

"Fine," he gave in, not wanting to anger another daughter, "Just - just don't touch anything."

Her face lit up and she gave him a hug, "You're the best."

"At least one of you thinks so," he murmured as she scampered away. 

He looked towards Happy and sighed, "Why did we ever have kids?"

She looked him over slowly from head to toe, before meeting his eyes with her own, a twinkle shining in them, "Because you can be very persuasive."

A smile pulled at the corner of Toby's lips for a moment before dropping again, "What do I do about her?"

Happy didn't have to ask which daughter he was talking about. She ruffled Benny's hair, "Hey, redraw these designs while I talk to dad, okay?"

He nodded and started scribbling away as she stood and walked over to Toby. When she got close enough, she wrapped her arms around his waist and propped her chin on his chest, looking up at him. 

"What do you want to do, Doc?"

"I don't know," he sighed, "well I do know. I want to talk to her, make her talk to me, make her see my side."

"But?"

"But that girl is so damn stubborn. She's just like you and I know from experience not to rush talking with you. You come to me in your own time."

"She's got a lot of you in her though."

Toby looked down at her like she had lost her mind, "Seriously, Hap? She threw a wrench at my head, a freaking wrench."

Happy nodded her head sheepishly, "Okay, I admit, she gets that from me."

"And the loud music and the glare and the ignoring me and the calmness and-"

"Okay, okay, I get it," she interrupted him, laughing, "she shares a lot of qualities with me. But I also know that if you go talk to her, she won't push you away but, instead, she'll talk your ear off and share everything," her eyes widened, "And I mean everything. Just like you. She doesn't like to stew like me, she'd rather get it out in the open."

"How the hell do you know all this?" he asked her, genuinely curious as to how he had never picked up on that before. 

Happy rolled her eyes and poked his stomach, "You're forgetting, I'm the one she's always mad at. So I'm the one who always has to smooth things over with her and make her understand what's going on. And believe me, that girl is so much like you, it's scary. The way she analyzes all of our behaviors when she's talking to me. It's like I'm talking to a female version of you."

He smiled at that, then asked, "So you're saying I should make her talk to me, like I'd want to do?"

She nodded, "Just talk to her, that's your speciality."

"I just don't understand why she did that tonight," he muttered into her hair, hugging her tightly, "She has never done anything like that before."

"She's a teenaged girl, Doc," Happy responded, looking back up at him, "Things are going to be pretty crazy around here for the next few years, trust me."

He made a face, "Oh goody, and here I thought since we had genius children we wouldn't have to deal with these normal behaviors."

Happy laughed, "I only wish; sometimes being a genius makes it worse. I didn't have parents to watch out for me, like Kenz does. I did some pretty stupid stuff and had a really bad attitude. But no one ever told me to stop, so I was able to do what I wanted. I can't even fathom what it would've been like if someone told me what I could or couldn't do. I just know I wouldn't have reacted very well. So in a way, I kind of feel bad for our kids. We're going to make their lives hell, even more so than we already do."

Toby laughed, "Isn't that the job of a parent though?"

She shrugged, "I don't know. I guess so? At least we care enough about them and love them enough to want to protect them any way we can."

Toby leaned in to kiss Happy's forehead, "Why are you so calm right now? How are you not furious about what she did?"

Happy pulled back, an annoyed look on her face, "Oh, I am. I just didn't think I should say anything to her right then. She was already embarrassed enough, thanks to you, and, I don't know," she sighed, "it reminded me of how I acted when I was younger, so I can't really fault her. Although, I didn't have a dad like you to embarrass the crap out of me like you did to her tonight."

"So does that mean we aren't going to punish her because she has already suffered enough?" Toby looked at her with hope, he hated giving out punishments. 

Shaking her head, she laughed, "Oh no, her ass is grounded for the next month, at least."

"That's what I thought you say," he said dejectedly.

"I don't know why you're upset by having to punish her. Especially with the way you acted tonight. I'm surprised you didn't have a gun out, cleaning it."

He grinned down at her, "Nah, that's not my style, it's more of Cabe's thing to do. But that's a good idea though, we should have him over here next time she goes out on a date. Even in his seventies, that man can still scare the crap out of people."

"Don't you dare, Toby," Happy warned.

He laughed, "Can't promise anything, pumpkin pie."

Happy shoved his chest gently, "Go be a dad."

"Do I have to?" he pouted.

Smiling, she stepped back into him, "Yes, you do. You've wasted enough time." She quickly glanced over her shoulder to make sure none of the kids were around, then raised on her toes to whisper in his ear, "Just for the record, you parenting is hot. Like extremely sexy."

A goofy grin came over his face, "Well then, I'm on it. You won't be able to resist me before the night is through."

Kissing him quickly, she murmured against his lips, "That's what I was hoping you'd say, because I have a movie for us to not pay attention to after the kids go to bed."

His grin grew and he waggled his eyebrows, "Can we put the kids to bed early tonight?"

Rolling her eyes, she smiled, "No, we can't. Now stop putting off talking to Kenzie," she turned him around and shoved him toward the stairs. Then without warning, she smacked his backside, "Go do your dad thing, baby."

"God, I love when you act like this. You're feisty tonight," he said over his shoulder, shooting her a wink.

"Just go," she laughed, watching him until he disappeared up the steps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toby lightly knocked on Mackenzie's door, even knowing it was useless as Aerosmith music filled the entire upstairs of their house; Ellie was right, the music was so loud that the windows were shaking. When she didn't open the door, he twisted the doorknob, fully expecting it to be locked. But surprisingly it turned and he slowly pushed open the door. She sat at her desk, her back to the door, head moving to the music as she silently worked on a project in front of her, completely in her own world.

Toby watched her for a second, wanting a few more moments of peace before everything grew tense again, the calm before the storm. She was so engrossed in what she was doing, she didn't even notice him. Toby knew she was mere moments away from going down the rabbit hole. So he turned off her music and made his way over to her desk, stopping right beside her. She glanced up at him briefly, her eyes, the exact shade as Toby's, still burned with rage. Of the three kids, Kenzie was the one that was a mixture of her parents - Happy's hair, Toby's eyes and smile, Happy's lack of height, and Toby's lack of filter when talking to someone were just details barely scratching the surface of who she was. 

She turned back to her project, not even acknowledging her dad standing there, arms crossed over his chest. 

After a few more moments of silence, Toby's finally spoke up, "What are you working on, bug?"

She sighed, "I'm trying to figure out how to program this new type of prosthetic I came up with so that it acts like a real limb and not just a substitute. Ralph and I were able to come up with new blends of materials that mimic skin, muscle, and bones better than anything else out there; you can even directly attach it to the living muscles and bones seamlessly and permanently. Then I was able to design and build it so that it could bend and twist like a real arm or leg, but now I can't figure out how to get it to work without physically moving it to the position you want it in or programming each command piece by piece before actually getting it to do what I want every single time." She groaned and threw down the piece she was working on, "I know exactly what I want to do, I just can't get there."

"Hmm," Toby said, leaning up against her desk, "That's pretty awesome, Kenz. Are you saying you want to program it, like a computer, with scripted codes so that it knows what to do automatically? Sort of like a robot that takes cues from its surroundings?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but I want it to be automatic, with no delay. Like how our brains work by automatically sending out a signal to the various parts of our bodies."

"Well, you know that they've made significant advancements in programming over the years. And your sister was watching a documentary on brain implants. What if you implanted a chip in to the brain and programmed that to send signals to the prosthetic? It could even be programmed to read the signals coming from nearby muscles. For instance, when the bicep contracts, the lower arm bends up."

Her eyes momentarily lost their anger as they lit up in excitement, "I never thought about internal programming before. I was too focused on having it completely programmed before, that I never even considered creating it to take cues from what it's connected to. Thanks Dad." She grinned and turned back to her work.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head, then muttered, "No problem, kiddo. Oh, and before I forget, you're grounded for the next month."

"Seriously?" she asked in surprise, dropping her work and whirling around to face him, "But why? I didn't do anything."

"Hmm, let's see," he began, pacing around her room, "One, you lied to your mother and I. Two, your attitude." He stopped and lifted a finger, "Oh yeah, how could I forget, and three, you threw a wrench at my head."

She rolled her eyes and stood, walking over to her bed, "I knew it wasn't going to hit you. I calculated the trajectory and knew it wouldn't even come close to your head."

"Regardless of if you did that or not, you still threw it and you're still grounded," he stated firmly, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her. 

The glare was back on her face, "But mom throws stuff at you at the time when she's mad and you don't punish her."

Toby bit back a laugh, "She's my wife, I can't punish her, but believe me, I wish I could."

"This is so stupid," Kenzie grumbled, flopping on to her back to stare at her ceiling, "All I did was go out on a date. I didn't nothing wrong."

"Yes, you did, Kenz," Toby said, laying back himself, "You failed to mention that your date was with a 17 year old guy who drives a motorcycle around. All you did was ask if you could go on a date with a guy from school. And we agreed to that, not to the leather wearing, sweet talking, biker dude that dropped you off."

"It's not my fault you didn't ask for more details about him," she said with attitude, "And I didn't lie, he is from school."

Toby sighed, trying to hold back the snark that wanted to come out, "Is he a senior?"

Kenzie shook her head no. 

"Well then, a junior?"

Her head shook no again. 

"Oh god," Toby groaned, running his hand down his face, "Don't tell me he failed a grade and is actually a sophomore like you. Please, Kenz, don't do that to me. For all we know he's using you to-"

"No, Dad, he's not a sophomore. He's not even in high school. He dropped out."

"What?" Toby roared, sitting up quickly. He stared down at her, waiting for an explanation. 

A smirk teased her lips as she sat up herself, "He dropped out last year."

Taking a deep breath, Toby tried not to overreact, "So you're telling me that my 15 year old daughter went out on a date with a 17 year old drop out?"

She nodded yes and moved to the center of the bed, sitting cross-legged so she could face Toby, "Yep, that is exactly what I'm telling you."

"Oh, Mackenzie Grace," he breathed out, "you better start explaining yourself."

She rolled her eyes, letting her smirk grew, "His name is Ethan and he's a high school drop out who is brilliant and couldn't stand the boring classes he was being forced to take. So he got his GED and is in both of my engineering courses at UCLA. We met there since we're the youngest in our classes and had something in common. He is sweet and kind and asked me out, so I said yes. There you go. There's my explanation."

"Okay, fine," Toby said, holding his hands up, "He's not the typical drop out. Good for him. But he still took you out on a motorcycle, and once again, you're only fifteen."

Mackenzie huffed, "What's the big deal about the motorcycle? Mom dated a guy who rode a motorcycle when she was my age. Heck, mom was already riding one herself."

He looked down at her in surprise, "And you know this how?"

"Mom told me, duh."

"Lose the 'tude, Mackenzie Grace," Toby warned, then said, "And you're not your mother, so you don't get to do what she did. And there's still the problem of the fact that he's two years older than you and you felt like you didn't need to tell us about that."

Crossing her arms, she glared at him, "You and mom are like ten years apart, so what's the big deal?"

He couldn't stop the annoyed look from crossing his face and his words were laced in frustration when he spoke, "Try six years, sweetheart, not ten, and we didn't meet when she was fifteen or else that would've been weird. When you're fifteen, you date other fifteen year olds, not guys who are seventeen. Then when you get older, it doesn't matter as much."

"That's so stupid, Dad. You can't tell me what age a guy has to be I want to date."

"I'm your father. Yes, I can. And I never would've let you go out with him if I had known how old he was. Now why you wouldn't introduce us when he picked you up makes sense. I'm guessing it was also your idea to have him park his motorcycle down the street when he first came?"

"Yes, it was, because I knew you'd freak out over nothing. It's not a big deal. He's not even a full two years older than me. I turn sixteen next month and he just turned seventeen. He's only fourteen months older than me. And mom told me that she dated guys older than her. So if she could do that, why can't I?"

Toby took a few deep breath to try to calm himself down, "Kenzie, you're not your mother. I've already said that. Believe it or not, we know a thing or two and we're trying to protect you. Some kids aren't lucky enough to have parents watch out for them like that. So if we say no, we do it for a good reason, not just because we like to hear ourselves talk."

"This is so annoying," she frowned, punching the pillow beside her, "I'm supposed to start having more freedom now, but you're just taking it all away. I mean I have my license now and-"

"No, you have your learner's permit," he interrupted her, "not your license. And you won't get your license unless you pass the test. But since you drive like mom, you probably won't pass your test for awhile."

"Or," Kenzie began slyly, "I could just hack the system like mom did and give myself a license."

"Your mother told you that?" Toby asked in surprise, then sighed, "Of course she did. What else did she tell you to give you ideas on how you should be allowed to go through life?"

She opened her mouth to tell her dad what else her mom had told her, but Toby held his hand up and shook his head, "You know what? Nope, I don't want to hear about it. I'll have your mother tell me later."

The room went silent as father and daughter both tried to figure out what to say next. It was finally Toby who broke the silence some time later. 

"You know, sweetheart, I wouldn't have been as mad if you hadn't tried to fool us. You can't do things like that to us. You have to know we'll always find out. And when we find out you lied to us and did what you did tonight, things are always worse."

"Well, you know what Dad?" she asked, pinning him with her fiery glare, "I'm not the only one in the wrong tonight. Do you even realize what you did to me?"

"I was protecting my daughter, getting to know this guy you had just spent hours with, while I knew nothing about what was going on. I didn't even know where you were. But I trusted that would always tell me everything. So when you said a guy from school, I thought you meant high school, someone your age."

"Oh you knew where I was the entire time," Mackenzie rolled her eyes again and flopped back down on her back, "I know you had Uncle Walter put a hidden GPS tracker on my phone."

Toby smiled sheepishly, "It was for your safety. For all I knew, the guy you were out with was a murderer."

"Which is why you had Uncle Sly hack the security cameras and track our every move tonight, right? He fed the security camera footage into your's and mom's phones," she stated matter-of-factly, grabbing her own fedora hat from her bedpost and twirling it around in her finger. 

"A-again, it-it was for your own protection," Toby stammered. He hadn't realized she knew all of what he had done that night to make sure she was safe. 

"And then you had Pops follow us. You do know that a black tinted SUV kind of stands out, don't you?"

"I am not ashamed of what I did tonight to keep you safe."

"But want to know the real kicker?" Mackenzie asked, ignoring anything her father had to say, "It was that you were pacing the front porch, just waiting for me to get home. You already had questions prepared to ask Ethan. Heck, mom probably ran a full background check on him. But obviously she didn't tell you what she found out about his schooling or else you would've been more mad than you were."

Toby stood, placing his hands on his hips, "I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. You're my daughter and I love you. You're just going to have to deal with an overprotective parent."

"Ugh," she groaned loudly, placing her hat over her face, "You don't even realize how much you embarrassed both me and Ethan tonight. Do you really not realize that isn't what normal parents do, Dad? All you and mom ever spout off about is how you want us to have a normal life. Well with parents like you two and brains like ours, we're never going to have a normal life. You should know that better than anyone. And when I try to be a little bit normal, you go and blow that out of the water and act like your crazy self, with your crazy genius plans."

"I wouldn't have to have crazy plans if you would just tell us the truth!" Toby couldn't stop his voice from raising. 

"And maybe I would tell you the truth if you would've just asked like a normal parent instead of going all crazy stalker on me!" Kenzie yelled at him, sitting up again. 

"I go crazy stalker on you because I know what it's like to not have a parent care about what you do or where you go. And your mother had no one, Kenz. Absolutely no one to watch after her or give her guidance and protect her. We feel we need to protect you and crazy stalker is the way we know how to do that."

"I sometimes wish I was like mom and didn't have any parents to tell me what to do. The freedom would be nice," she said angrily. He could see she immediately regretted those words as soon as they left her mouth, but she was too stubborn to admit it. 

At those words, Toby had to take a seat back on the bed, his chest physically hurting from hearing her say that. 

"Your mother did not have a great life, Mackenzie," he finally started quietly and slowly after letting the words settle between the two of them, "Yeah, it turned her into the amazing woman she is now, but it wasn't easy. It wasn't all freedom and doing whatever she wanted. She was surviving because she had no other choice. I get it," he said, reaching out and patting her knee, "I want to be like mom too, she's brave and resourceful, brilliant and intuitive, she's unbelievable, unreal even. But her life was hell. Neither of us want that for you, so we do what we do to protect you, to make sure you are given every chance possible. We don't want to hold you back or rule your life, but we also need to make sure you never have to go through what we did, sweetheart."

"I know that," she admitted softly, "It's just that when mom was my age, she-"

"Oh my gosh," Toby groaned, interrupting her and trying to lighten the mood, "enough about when mom was your age." He grinned at her, "You know, by the time I was 15, I had already graduated with three degrees from MIT and was by myself in Cambridge in med school. So If you want to be like one of your parents, you should want to be me."

A small smile pulled at her lips and she moved to sit by her father's side, nudging his shoulder with hers, "You wouldn't let me be like you. I've tried every year since third grade to skip ahead, but you and mom refuse. I could be done with college by now too, Dad."

"We just wanted you to have as normal of a childhood as possible and that's all. 

Mackenzie chuckled softly, "Which is why you pull the Harvard card and start talking psycho babble when my date drops me off, early by the way, which you failed to notice."

Toby shrugged, "Hey, when you said you had a date, I assumed you meant his mom would be driving you and it would be a very awkward time, not that you'd come home on the back of a motorcycle, no parental supervision in sight. But instead, you had a date with the leather wearing motorcycle dude who's too old for you."

"Ugh, Dad," she groaned jokingly, "you're talking in circles, we've already been over this."

He grinned over at her, "I know, I'm starting to confuse myself now too."

Laughing, she laid her head against his shoulder, something she had always done ever since she was little because it made her feel safe and loved. Toby turned his head and kissed the top of hers. 

"I didn't mean it," Kenzie whispered, "that I wish I didn't have parents. I was just mad. I'm sorry."

"I know you didn't, bug. Don't worry. And even if you did, we would still love you with everything in us."

"Love you too, Dad."

They were quiet once more, the tension from earlier having left the room. 

"But what are we going to do, Dad?" she finally asked, "I really, really like this guy." 

Toby sighed, "I'll tell you what. If you want to keep seeing this boy, you can bring him over here and we'll meet him properly. I promise, I won't do any of my psycho babble, as you call it. We will form our own opinions about him and go from there." 

"Thank you," she turned to hug him, giving him a kiss on the cheek, "That's sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I really think you guys will like him. He's awesome."

He smiled down at his daughter, "But I can tell you right now, I will not have you on the back of a motorcycle at your age. If you can convince mom to teach you how to ride one when you get older you can, but right now, I'm putting my foot down. No motorcycle riding for you."

"That's fine. If I'm being perfectly honest, it was a bit scary."

"I know what you mean," he laughed, thinking about the crazy rides he had taken with Happy. "And you're still grounded, don't forget that. So don't be making any plans."

"But Dad," she whined. 

He shook his head, "No buts. You threw a wrench at my head."

"I'm sorry," she said, giving him that puppy dog look Ellie had given him earlier. 

"Not going to work young lady. But, if you're extremely good this week, maybe I can talk to your mom about lessening the punishment?"

She grinned up at him, "Thanks Dad."

"Hey Kenzie?" Ben said from the doorway, "Ellie and I were going to play monopoly. Do you want play with us?"

She got up and walked over to him, ruffling his hair when she got close, "Sure thing, Benny. But I get to be the hat."

"Fine by me," he smiled, following her down the stairs, "You know I like to be the race car and E is always the scottie dog."

Toby followed them down the steps, a content smile on his face. He saw Happy watching their kids with a matching smile on her face. He never would've dreamed twenty years ago that this would be his life, but he wouldn't trade it for the world. 

The kids sat down around the coffee table where Ellie had the game board set up, as well as popcorn and drinks. 

Kenzie shot a triumphant look towards her brother and sister, "Game on siblings. Let's see if I can keep my winning streak alive. What it is, nine in a row now? Shouldn't be too hard with you two as my opponents."

"I don't think so, big sis," Ellie retorted, "Benny and I have talked strategy. Be ready for a challenge."

"You can't do that," Kenzie said with a laugh, picking up the die, "That's cheating."

"Where is it written?" Ben asked, folding his arms across his chest and giving his sister a look.

"Okay, fine," Mackenzie gave in, "You two can try your hardest. Highest roll goes first."

As Happy was distracted by the kids, Toby sneaked up behind her and pushed the hair off her neck, kissing it gently, before wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder, "We did good, huh?" 

"Mhmm," she agreed, leaning back against his chest while continuing to watch her kids, "We did real good." 

"Want to try for another one, babe?" Toby asked. 

Happy stiffened in his arms, but relaxed again when she felt him silently chuckling behind her, burying his face in her neck, "You scared me, Doc, I actually thought you meant it." 

His laugh grew louder, "Oh, no, I think the baby ship has sailed." 

"Yeah," she muttered under her breath, "even before Benny was born" 

Tightening his arms around her, he whispered in her ear, "Hey, not my fault you can't resist my charms and amazing love making skills. And I'll prove that tonight." 

A shiver ran down her back when he kissed her neck once more. Then she turned in his arms and shoved his shoulder, "I still think you did it on purpose, you knew I was on antibiotics." 

Toby shrugged, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "But we got Benny out of it." 

A gentle smile formed on Happy's face as she glanced over her shoulder to where the kids were already fighting over a property, "Yeah, we did. That boy is the best." She turned back to him, a mock glare on her face, "But, Doc, I'm serious. No more kids. Our three are perfect. We don't need any more." A grin formed on her face, "And besides, you're going to be 50 next week. You're getting old and probably couldn't even handle a newborn anymore." 

He narrowed his eyes at her and dug his fingers into her hips, "You're being mean. And I don't look a day over 40." 

"I don't know, babe," she said, reaching up to run her fingers through the hair at his temples, "Your hair is starting to turn gray." 

His pursed his lips in a pout, "I can always dye it." 

"If you do, I want a divorce," she deadpanned, then added, "And I'm taking Ben with me. You can deal with the two hormone driven teenaged girls. And once they're through the bad years, they can come back and live with me." 

"Not happening, sugar lips," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her quickly, "First off, you're never getting rid of me. You should know that by now. And secondly, I know you'd never do that to your kids, so you can't even threaten that. You forget, I can easily read you, my lovely lady." 

She rolled her eyes, but rose on her tip toes to kiss him again, this time a little deeper, allowing herself to get lost in the kiss. 

She was just about to suggest they sneak away to the bedroom while the kids were distracted when he pushed her back suddenly, "Hey, why do you get to go to the salon to cover up your gray hair, but I don't?" 

"I don't know what you're talking about, Doc. I don't have any gray hair," she said with a wink, turning back around to watch her kids. 

"You're such a liar," he laughed, pulling her back into his chest.

Happy just shrugged her shoulders and laughed. "If I'm such a liar, then I don't want to go upstairs to our bedroom while our kids are distracted and won't even notice we're gone."

"Do we have time?" he questioned eagerly, his fingers already sliding under the edge of her shirt.

"Oh yeah," she nodded quickly, "An hour at least.

"Perfect," Toby grinned and started pulling her backwards towards the stairs, "Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Once or twice," she turned and met his grin before pulling his head down for a passionate kiss, "And I love you. Now come on."

And an hour later, they came back down to their three kids still bickering loudly over the game, never even noticing their parents had disappeared. Toby and Happy shared a loving smile and settled down together on the couch to watch their three kids and enjoy the life they never knew they would have.


End file.
